DULUTH, Ga.  Davis Love was late for his news conference
Wednesday, but everyone understood.

"I was playing 18," he said, "and it took me a while."

In the vision of most golf course architects, a championship
course is supposed to get more difficult as the round continues. From all indications,
Rees Jones matched his vision with reality when he rebuilt the Highlands Course
at Atlanta Athletic Club.

"You should have the crescendo at the end of the round,"
Jones said. "This will be the Atlanta Athletic Club's crescendo."

Jones wanted a tough finish, and that appears to be what
he created, although the true test begins Thursday with the PGA Championship.

The final four holes are two par-3s and two par-4s, but
the 18th is actually a par-5 for club members. Jones rebuilt it and the par-5
second hole with the idea of making them par-4s for majors.

Jones hopes the 18th will force players to give considerable
thought to their tee shots.

"If you hit the driver, you can get in any of the four
bunkers on the right or water on your left," he said. "If you throttle back,
there's only one bunker in play and the water is out. But you have a longer
shot into the green. After this tournament is played, I think 18 will be regarded
as a great finishing hole."

The 18th covers 490 yards and had some hitting 3-woods
into the green during the practice rounds. Curtis Strange finished Wednesday
and said, "I just hope we don't see the leader on Sunday have to lay up short
on 18."

"On the last four holes, you have to hit two good drives
and two good long irons or you won't have a chance to make a par, let alone
a birdie," Love said.

Crafting the course

Jones, who is known as the course doctor, has made a career
of rebuilding courses for the major championships. Already five of his 'redos,'
as the players call them, have been host clubs to U.S. Opens. He has done other
sites for PGA Championships and for a Ryder Cup.

Competitors in today's 83rd PGA Championship will take
on a long, difficult course with tight fairways, thick Bermuda rough and subtle,
undulating greens.

"I grew up in the Northeast, playing Baltusrol, Winged
Foot and Pine Valley," Jones said. "I had a lot of courses to study. Golf course
architecture is a craft. You learn by seeing and doing. You fall back on your
background."

Jones' father, the late Robert Trent Jones, built nine
holes of the course and Joe Finger built nine more. The two nines were a good
bit different, but the U.S. Open was held here in 1976 with Jerry Pate winning,
and the PGA Championship was held here in '81 with Larry Nelson winning.

Jones was hired to modernize the course, and he did the
work in '94 and '95. He added only 200 yards to the course, making it play to
7,213 yards, but he changed bunkers and greens and generally gave it a classic
look. The job cost $2.5 million, And, Jones notes today, the whole complex was
built in 1967 for just $750,000.

"I'm fortunate to redo this course," Jones said, "because
this will be the ultimate examination. The PGA always tucks the pins near bunkers
or near water. They'll play it to its ultimate length. What I built will actually
get played."

"The long hitters are going to have a huge advantage,"
he says. "Over four days, the length of this golf course is really going to
get to a lot of guys."

Jones built the greens so they pitch from back to front,
which means they'll hold shots better and make recovery easier from in front
of the green than from behind the green.

"Pros miss greens on the right or the left," he explained.
"They aren't short or long very often. If you have greens that pitch away from
them on the right or left, they have a hard time stopping the ball when they
miss the green on the short side."

Earlier this year, Nelson, player of the year on the Senior
PGA Tour last season, returned to play the course. He said afterward, "The last
four holes may be the hardest finishing holes we've ever had in a major championship."

Love said the 15th has "probably the toughest tee shot
on the whole course. It's a 3-iron, 2-iron or fairway wood to a small green."

He said the 16th is so difficult "that if you miss the
fairway you are not going to hit the green" in regulation. He said the 17th
will be affected most by the wind. "It could be a 4-iron with no wind or a 5-iron
downwind," he said.

Great closing hole

All these holes set up the 18th, which already has a place
in history. It was here in the '76 Open that Pate hit his famous 5-iron approach
shot that secured his victory.

Earlier this week, Love, Greg Norman and Steve Elkington
played a practice round and Norman and Elkington hit 3-woods into the green.
Love hit a 1-iron.

"You are going to see a lot of guys drive the ball right
down the middle of the fairway and then lay up on their second shot," Love said.
"If you think you can make it in two, you can go for it. But if you can't, then
you'll have to lay up because the penalty is so severe."

Asked if it was a fair hole, Love said, "Yeah, if you don't
assign a par to it."